Steering/Rack and pinion problem

Had an alignment back in august where the toe was severely out of alignment. The steering wheel now makes a clunking noise and shifts when turning all the way one direction or switching directions with the wheel. A traction control light came on. And the wheel doesn’t return to center when driving straight. Now in December the tire is back out of alignment but the toe was even worse. They fixed the alignment and within a day it was out of alignment. Took it to a shop to get looked at but they were booked for awhile. Shop told me it is probably the rack and pinion. Said the boots especially on the passenger side is bad. Basically just looking for any advice on how to diagnose this problem I will attach a photo of the steering wheel. This truck also has 350,000 miles on just for your information.

 

A picture of the steering wheel doesn’t help, the problem isn’t up there

Bring it to a competent mechanic or post pictures of the steering components if you would like an opinion, however pictures never beat hands on

 

The picture was just to provide more information of what is going on. That’s what the wheel looks like when driving straight. Telling me to take it to a mechanic isn’t help on diagnosing. Will jack it up and look at the components soon.

 

OP, take and post a few pics of the cam adjusters located on the frame where both lower control arms for the front wheels are mounted.

Sounds to me like there may be one or more bent cam alignment tabs...a very common and frustrating problem. The tabs are used as a backstop along the edge of the cam bolts to allow movement of the lower control arms during alignment and keep the arms in place...unless bent or broken.